87ers making full-court press for M.O.T. fans

NBA Development League basketball is coming to Newark this winter and the Delaware 87ers want to be sure the M.O.T. area is well represented.

By Scott Goss

NBA Development League basketball is coming to Newark this winter and the Delaware 87ers want to be sure the M.O.T. area is well represented.

Officials with the Philadelphia 76ers new D-League team held a joint event with the Middletown Area Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday to promote the organization and encourage attendance at the team’s 24 home games, which will be held at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center starting in late November.

“You’re going to be able to see some really exciting NBA-level competition and we want to make the experience as fun as possible for the whole family,” team president Aaron Moszer told the roughly two dozen chamber members who attended the meet-and-greet at Tom Foolery’s Restaurant and Bar at 714 Ash Blvd.

That event came less than a week after the team purchased a booth to promote the team during the Old Tyme Peach Festival on Saturday.

Moszer said the 87ers organization – whose name is a nod to the year the First State ratified the constitution – will be planning up to 180 events throughout Delaware this winter to help promote the team, as well as requiring each of its employees to complete 87 hours of community service each year.

“Our goal is to develop programs in the marketplace,” he said. “We really want to be good stewards of the community and be out and about.”

The Delaware 87ers are currently asking fans to reserve season ticket with a $50 refundable deposit. Season ticket prices will range from $172.80 for the upper deck to $2,880 for so-called Hollywood floor seats. Individual game tickets will range from $7.20 to $120.

Season tickets, also billed as membership in the Sevens Club, will include special events with the as-yet-unnamed head coach and as-yet-undetermined roster of players, early access to warm ups, clinics for adults and children, promotional giveaways, complimentary tickets to one 76ers game and an opportunity to purchase 76ers playoff tickets prior to their release to the general public.

For more information, call (302) 504-7587, visit www.sevens.com or follow the team on Facebook and Twitter.